Ragged Shards
by Darlin24
Summary: The two guys hitting on Tori and Jade at Nozu remind Jade of someone in her past that she's tried to repress from her memory for a long time. Now she's about to break & Tori is the only one around to help. Tag to "Tori & Jade's Playdate." JORI friendship!
1. Chapter 1

**Title:**** Ragged Shards**

**Rating:**** T for mentions of non-con sex, underage drinking, and minor language.**

**Description:**** The two guys at Nozu remind Jade of someone in her past that's become a long repressed memory. But now she's about to break and Tori is the only one around to help. Tag to "Tori & Jade's Playdate."**

**Pairings:**** JORI friendship, mentions of Bade**

_Don't freak out. Don't scream. You're okay. Calm down. Calm. Calmcalmcalm. Just breathe, Jade. _She repeated all of these things in her head but Jade still wanted to hyperventilate, pass out, or fall to the ground screaming. Or all of the above. But she was not about to do that in front of Vega, much less these two creeps who'd decided to take an interest in the two girls. So instead, she kept up her mask of being unafraid, cool, and tough.

_Oh my God. Is this really happening?_ Jade thought as the creep to her left stroked her chin.

"Are you ticklish?" he smirked.

Once, twice, three times he touched her face.

That was enough. She snapped her elbow back, hitting him directly in groin. He hunched over in pain. Jade smiled.

Soon after the guy had regained his composure, Jade found herself standing on the stage of Nozu with Tori, about to sing a duet. The frenemy had picked the perfect song, "Take a Hint," in order to get the point across. Throughout their performance, Jade oozed confidence on the outside. But on the inside, her heart was still beating a million times a minute and she still wasn't far from a complete panic attack.

_This is unreal. _Jade watched the two guys slink out of the sushi joint after she and Tori finished their song. Before she knew what she was doing, Jade had reached out and grabbed the half-Latina into a bear hug.

"Thank you," Jade breathed.

Then she realized what she was doing and a completely different kind of fear than the one she'd felt around those guys shot through her. Jade quickly released her hold and stepped back.

"For...what?" Tori asked, completely confused and taken aback by Jade's sudden change in demeanor.

"Nothing," Jade replied frostily, "Don't worry about it."

"Jade, you insult me on a daily basis to my face AND behind my back. You have never liked me. The nicest you've ever been to me was tonight and that was only after I made you say something nice. I think I have a right to be concerned over what just happened."

"Tori, just let it go."

"No."

"Did you just tell me no?" Jade's eyes flared with annoyance.

"Yeah. I did. And I'm going to keep bugging you about this until you tell me why the hell you just acted like that,"

Jade was visibly angry now and crossed her arms. Her blue-green eyes locked with Tori's dark brown ones in an intense stare down. Their concentration was broken when Mrs. Lee came up to congratulate them on their great performance. The two girls thanked her and returned to their seats. They sat in stony silence for almost an hour while they listlessly picked at their food. Finally Tori broke the silence.

"Okay, look I know I'm not your most favorite person in the world."

"There's an understatement,"

"What I'm trying to say -if you'd stop interrupting with your stupid snide comments- is that you can talk to me about whatever it is that made you act the way you did earlier Because I know something pretty big had to have happened for you to have hugged me," Tori placed a hand on Jade's shoulder. "Okay?"

Jade considered this for a moment. Everyone else in their circle of friends knew, and (under orders from Jade) kept the secret from Tori and everyone else at school. It was easier that way. Jade didn't want to be seen as weak and not telling people about what had happened was the easiest way to ensure that she wasn't seen that way. But then again, Tori (for all her flaws and for as much as Jade disliked her) had proven herself over the past year or so.

Before Jade could finish her musing, Mrs. Lee got on stage with the microphone and announced that Nozu was closing for the night. Chairs scratched across the floor and shoes squeaked as the remaining customers began to file out of the restaurant. Tori stood up.

"You coming?" she raised her eyebrows.

Jade slowly turned around to face her. Her expression was unreadable. It was like she was curious, fearful, and a little sad all at the same time.

"Jade?"

"Do you really want to know?"

Tori's eyes glittered for a split second with the prospect of knowing but she quickly masked her excitement.

"Only if you want to tell me,"

"Let's go," Jade grabbed her keys and stalked out the door. Tori hurried after her.

"Go where?"

"We're taking my car. Tell your mom or whoever was going to pick you up not to worry about it. I'll take you home once we're done talking," Jade replied, not wanting to answer her question.

Tori quickly shot off a text to Trina, who was her ride, not to bother coming to get her.

"Get in," was Jade's next command. Tori hesitantly stepped into the car. Jade peeled away from the parking lot and took off down the nearly empty street.

"Uh, where are we going?" Tori wondered.

"You'll know when we get there,"

"Jadelynn August West tell me where we are going right now or I'll call my dad and tell him I've been kidnapped. He'll have the whole police force coming after you before you can blink."

"How do you know my full name?" Jade snapped.

"Answer my question first," Tori demanded.

"Fine. School parking lot. Your turn,"

"Beck,"

"What?"

"We were texting one night and he accidentally sent me a text message that was supposed to be for you," Tori answered. "Before you guys broke up," she added unnecessarily.

Jade said nothing, just stared at the road ahead of her. She knew the conversation to which Tori was probably referring to- it was the last normal one she and Beck had had before their huge (and final) fight. He'd been professing his love. Jade grit her teeth and accelerated some more.

Within five minutes the girls had arrived at Hollywood Arts. Jade pulled into a random slot and parked the car. It was silent. Completely and utterly silent.

"It goes without saying but I'm going to say it anyway. This doesn't leave my car. You don't repeat this to anyone, not even the others. If you do, I will hunt you down and even your detective daddy won't be able to find your body. You got me?"

Tori nodded jerkily. "Yup."

"Okay," Jade blew out a breath she'd been holding. "Wow. Okay. Um... I don't really know how to say this." In reality, she knew exactly how to say what she wanted, she just didn't know if she could make herself do it. She hadn't had to relive that night in quite some time.

"Why don't you start with why you thanked and hugged me?" Tori prompted.

"Because you helped make me safe," Jade answered, looking out the window. She couldn't meet the other girl's eyes.

"Okay..." Tori didn't understand why mean and tough Jade would need to feel safe. That went against everything she knew. "Why did you need to feel safe?"

"Because I was scared," she whispered. Hell, she was scared right now. Could she really trust Tori like she thought?

Tori was about to ask why she was scared but something held her back. Something in her gut told her that if she would sit there quietly and wait and listen when Jade spoke then things would go a lot better. After a couple minutes her theory proved true.

Jade turned to look Tori in the eyes. "It was probably a few months after you transferred to Hollywood Arts… that winter. There was this big party for whatever reason. Anyway Beck, Andre, and I went. After a couple of hours -and I'll admit, probably a bit too much alcohol on my part- this guy that Beck and Andre knew came up to us and started talking with them. Somehow the conversation got onto the guy's new car, a red mustang GT. Of course Andre and Beck wanted to go look at it. They tried to get me to come but I was starting to feel nauseous from all I had drunk so I told them I was going to just go find an empty room upstairs and lie down for a few minutes. I got upstairs and finally found a room without couples making out or having...well anyway, I crawled onto the couch and passed out. And then-" Jade's breathing hitched and she blinked back tears. Why was this so hard? It'd been a year.

Tori reached over and squeezed Jade's hand. Under normal circumstances, Jade wouldn't have allowed the gesture but this was definitely not a normal circumstance. In fact, she welcomed the comfort surprisingly.

"And then?" Tori repeated.

"And then," Jade averted her eyes again, "I woke up to this random guy on top of me. Raping me." A single tear fell.

"Oh my God. Jade I am so, so sorry I had no idea,"

"That was kind of the point. I didn't want anyone to know. I didn't want to be seen as weak."

"But you were passed out and you'd been drinking so-"

"So I wasn't weak, just intoxicated? So I wasn't cheating on Beck, since it was rape? Tori, I have heard whatever you're going to say at least a billion times over by Beck, Andre, and my therapist. And it doesn't make it better. Save your breath," Jade murmured.

Tori gasped. "Beck. Oh my God, BECK. And Andre? How did they react when..."

"They were looking for me after checking out the car. I was fighting off the guy as best I could but he still was stronger and I was still drunk. I finally got to the door. I fell into the hallway, and by some miracle Andre was there and caught me before I hit the ground. He stood me up and quickly gave me his jacket to cover myself up with. He pulled me close to his side and hugged me and kept saying that everything would be okay. And I was grateful for it but I wanted Beck. I asked Andre where he was and he kind of got this funny look on face as he looked at something over my shoulder. I craned my neck around to look and saw Beck literally beating the guy into the ground and yelling and cursing him out. He knocked the guy out with one of his punches and then came out to the hallway..."

"Good. Not good as in what happened to you but good as in what Beck did."

Jade gave a short laugh through her tears. She wasn't really crying but tears were definitely falling.

"Yeah." she agreed.

"So...?"

"So what?"

"So what did Beck do after he knocked the guy out?"

"Took me from Andre and held me close then whispered stuff in my ear that's private and personal," Jade leveled her eyes with Tori's to make sure she knew that that discussion was over.

Tori nodded. "Okay," she whispered. "So what happened to the guy?"

"Couldn't tell you if I wanted to... Beck and Andre took me back to the RV, leaving the guy bleeding and passed out on the floor. They tried to get me to go to the hospital for a rape kit but I knew that if I did that my dad would end up finding out and that was not something I wanted to happen. Plus if I did that then everyone at school would end up finding out. So we just kept it our little secret. I told Cat and Robbie the next day,"

"Weren't you worried you had an STD? Or were pregnant?" Tori asked, silently marveling at how strong Jade was, even at her 'weakest.'

"Very. But I still didn't want to see a doctor because I didn't want my dad to find out. So everyone- Beck, Cat, Andre, and even Robbie- literally dragged me to one. And I don't even know how to put into words how happy and how grateful we all were when all the tests came back negative. No STDs and no pregnancy,"

"That's so-"

"Lucky. Damn lucky. That's the only effing thing to call it," Jade's sudden change in attitude surprised Tori enough to the point that she changed course in her questioning.

"So what was the issue tonight at Nozu?"

"One of the guys looked similar to the one who raped me. And he was way too far inside my personal bubble. And I was freaking out. Big time."

"Jade West was freaking out," Tori stated, still not able to believe that.

"Yeah. I had really bad anxiety and panic attacks whenever I was alone for like almost five or six months after I was raped. That's why I was so protective of Beck. Because I didn't want to be alone and even if we were together I still always had that fear that something might trigger a panic attack. But because of Beck and my therapist I slowly got better. Now it's just a bad memory that I've repressed for the most part. But certain triggers still set off a panic attack."

"Like guys getting too close to you without your permission," Tori realized.

"Or if they look similar like that guy did."

"Wow. I didn't... I didn't know. God I'm so sorry."

"Like I said, I'm pretty much all good now. It's just every now and again... It's bad. Like tonight."

The two were silent for a couple of minutes. Tori broke the silence.

"I still don't understand how I made you feel 'safe',"

"Because you made them leave. With the song that YOU picked, they left. I guess it doesn't make sense but that's how I see it."

"No, no it makes sense," Tori reassured. "But I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit. You sang the song with me and we BOTH made them go away,"

Jade gave her a soft smile. "Thanks Tori,"

Tori returned the smile, "You are so strong and beautiful Jade. You'll always be okay no matter what. You're a survivor, not a victim."

Jade's eyes narrowed.

"Heard that before too?" Tori sighed.

"No actually. I haven't. I like it, I like it a lot. Survivor, not victim," she repeated.

Tori's grin grew. "So are we good now? Friends? Full time, not every now and then?"

Jade laughed and wiped away her remaining tears, "Yes, Vega, we're friends,"

"Then as a friend, can you please take me home? It's nearly one a.m. and my mom is gonna kill me if I break curfew,"

"Sure," Jade laughed again and cranked the engine.

The ride to Tori's house was silent. But it was a kind of silence that was different from the other silences the two had experienced that night. It was the comfortable silence that fell naturally between two friends when no words were needed to fill the space.

"See you Monday, Jade," Tori said as Jade stopped the car in front of Tori's house. "And thanks."

"For the ride or for telling you my secret?" Jade inquired.

"Both,"

One side of Jade's mouth quirked up in a half grin. "Anytime Vega,"

Tori rolled her eyes at the use of her last name and stepped out of the car. She waved good-bye and then jogged up to her front door. Once Jade had seen her go inside safely, she pulled out of the driveway. As she drove down the street, she fished her phone out of her bag and dialed her therapist, Heather. Jade knew the chances of her answering at this hour were slim to none but Jade still wanted to leave a message while the events of tonight were fresh in her mind.

Then, surprisingly, Heather answered on the fifth ring. "Hullo?" she mumbled sleepily. "Heather Bentley speaking,"

"Heather, it's Jade West. Did I wake you up?"

"Mmm," Heather replied, "Kinda but that's okay. Whaddya need kiddo? Everything alright?"

"Yes, everything is fine. I just had a... Breakthrough... If you will."

"Really? Oh that's great! Talk to me," Heather now sounded significantly more awake.

"Remember Tori?"

"Kind of friend, kind of not?"

"Yep, her. We're friends now,"

"Really? Well that's good. What brought this about?"

"It's kind of a long story. We were out alone together because Sikowitz was being, well, himself, and these two guys started harassing us and touching my face and waist and we ended up singing this song that humiliated them in front of everyone so they finally left." Jade explained confusingly.

"Good. I'm very happy to hear that you're okay," the psychiatrist didn't bother asking for an explanation. She knew the tone in Jade's voice meant she needed to get everything out before being asked questions.

"But when they left I hugged Tori and said thank you before I even realized what I was doing. So naturally she wanted to know why I'd just done what I had. And i figured that she's proven herself, in a sense, ever since she came to HA. So i took her to the HA parking lot and told her everything,"

"How did she react?"

"She was really surprised and apologized and said all the cliché lines that you tell me like 'you weren't weak just drunk,' and stuff. But she did tell me something new that no one had told me before. I'm not a victim, I'm a survivor,"

"She's absolutely right. I agree completely."

"That's when I decided she was on my side and when she asked me if telling her my secret meant we were friends I said yes," Jade smiled softly to herself. She felt genuinely good about her decision and could see herself and Tori actually becoming close friends.

"I am so proud of you, Jade. I know you had a rocky start with Tori and it pretty much went downhill from there, but you've managed to overcome your differences and now you two are friends."

"Thanks, Heather," Jade's heart swelled with pride at the praise.

"I think this will be really good for you. You need a girlfriend like Tori. I know you love Cat to death- and I do too- but we both know that she doesn't possess some of the qualities that you need in a best friend, like brutal honesty. It seems to me like Tori won't hesitate to throw your sarcasm back at you or call you out on something if need be,"

"I know she won't hesitate to do either of those things,"

"Good." Heather yawned.

"I am so sorry for waking you up then keeping you up talking about all my stupid problems," Jade bit her lip nervously.

"Good grief. That's what our next session is going to be about, Jade. You need to stop putting yourself down. You are a wonderful, beautiful girl. Alright? You've overcome so many obstacles and you just need to build up some real self-confidence,"

"Okay. I'm going to let you go now. I'll see you at four on Tuesday?"

"Yep,"

"Alright. Thanks, Heather. Good night,"

"Good night, Jade,"

Jade dropped her cellphone back into her purse and smiled softly. Maybe everything would be okay. Maybe this was that point in life that Heather had been telling her about- the rainbow and sunshine after the storm.

Her smile didn't last long. She was crossing through the intersection that led into her neighborhood when suddenly a car slammed into the driver's side of her car at over seventy miles an hour. The metal immediately crushed, folding itself around Jade. The airbags deployed, breaking her nose. The other driver scrambled for the break but the damage was done. Because of the high speed at which they'd been traveling and the inertia of the hit, the two cars skidded for a few yards, almost attached together, before the offending car broke away from Jade's. It spun out a couple times before coming to a stop. Jade's car, however, spun once then hit the median and flipped over twice before stopping.

It hurt to breath. It hurt to move any part of her body. Her vision and hearing came and went every five seconds. Jade blindly fumbled for her phone and tried to dial 911.

Just as she hit the 9 key, she blacked out.

**A/N: Thoughts? Suggestions? Any kind of constructive criticism is welcome! Please review and/or favorite! Those who do will get virtual red velvet cupcakes! **

**XOXO, Darlin24**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So sorry for the late update! I fully intended to do this like… forever ago but I was out of the country for a while, I came back and two people I loved very much passed away… everything has been really hectic with life coming at me full force. My sincere apologies! **

"Tori. Tori, honey, wake up," David Vega shook his youngest daughter's shoulders, trying to rouse her from her slumber. He felt slightly bad for doing it; after all, she'd only just gone to bed a couple of hours ago.

She slowly came to, mumbling incoherently. When she realized her dad was standing over her she sat up partially and rubbed her eyes.

"Dad, it's…" she checked her alarm clock, "Almost five a.m. Why are you waking me up? Is something wrong?"

"Unfortunately, yes,"

"Did something happen to Mom or Trina?" Tori asked.

"No,"

"Then what… hey, why are you in your uniform?" Tori wondered, finally seeing that her dad was fully dressed in his Los Angeles police department attire, complete with utility belt. His weapon was holstered, something that was a rare occasion while he was in the house. It was normally stored away safely while he was off-duty.

"Are you going into work?" Tori continued her questioning. She was a morning person by nature and she woke up quickly and easily.

"Yeah, I got a call from my chief about fifteen minutes ago. There was a really bad drunk driving accident at around 1:30 this morning and whoever caused it fled the scene. The victim had no alcohol in her system so we know there had to have been another party involved. Plus with the skid marks and everything… anyway my chief wants all hands on deck,"

"That's horrible! But I don't understand why you're telling me all this unless…" the gears started turning in Tori's brain. The time… the victim being a _her_… no alcohol… "Dad, who was the girl who got hurt in the crash?"

"That's why I came to wake you up. It was one of your friends- Jade West,"

"Oh my God," Tori deadpanned.

"I'm so sorry, honey,"

"Is she okay? Will she be okay? Is she at the hospital? Which one? Can you take me? Oh my God, Jade!" Tori rushed all her sentences together.

"I don't know much about her condition except she was in really bad shape when they brought her in. I know what hospital she's at and yes, I can take you. That's why I came in to get you,"

Tori threw off the covers and jumped out of bed. She reached for her Uggs and jammed them on her feet. "Let's go," she grabbed her phone and was out the door, her dad right on her heels.

_**VicTORIous*VicTORIous*VicTORIous*VicTORIous*VicTORIous*VicTORIous**_

"She's stable for the moment. We've stopped most of the bleeding and removed the glass fragments and metal shards. We're waiting for the test results and then we'll proceed with surgery," Doctor McKee informed one of the attending nurses. "I need one of you two to call her parents or guardians and inform them of what's happened." he handed Jade's purse (which held her phone) to the redhead nurse in the room. The other nurse, a blonde, was fixing Jade's IV so it would keep the painkillers and sedatives flowing into her system.

"I'm on it," Maggie took the purse from the middle-aged ER doctor and pulled out the teenager's phone from right on top. It'd been placed there by one of the cops who'd been first on scene early this morning. After the EMTs had whisked Jade off to the hospital, the officer had come by to drop off it off.

Maggie clicked on the contacts icon and immediately went to the _I_ section in hopes of finding a contact with _ICE_ typed before it. When a person had emergency contacts already programmed into his or her phone it made her job so much easier. Unfortunately, there weren't any _in case of emergency_ contacts.

_Okay, no biggie_, Maggie thought and went back to the _A_ section, knowing that some people put important contacts first, by adding extra A's to the front of their names.

"Darn," she muttered when she found nothing of significance there. "Hmm,"

In the search box she typed "Mom" and came up with nothing. Next she tried, "Dad", with the same result. Sighing, Maggie looked up at Tania. "Her last name is West right?"

"Mmhmm. Why?"

"I can't find any ICE contacts and the usual tricks aren't working. I was going to see if maybe she's got family members on here," Maggie replied and typed "West" into the box. Nothing.

"Nothing," she reported. "Who am I supposed to call? She's a teenager, I don't exactly want to just go down the list in alphabetical order calling people,"

"Try going to the _M_ section and looking for a Mr. or Mrs. of some kind. I know my kids have some of our neighbors in their contacts list,"

"Good idea," Maggie followed Tania's suggestion. Nothing, again. She shook her head.

"Still nothing?" Tania furrowed her eyebrows.

"Yeah. I guess I'm just going to go into the logs and see who the last person dialed was and then the… holy crap,"

"What?"

"She was on the phone either right before the accident or during it,"

"No way,"

"Call that cop who was here earlier. He left me his number, it's back at the station," Maggie said and Tania scurried off to do so. Maggie pressed the green telephone key and listened to the dial tone four times before the person on the other end answered.

"Doctor Heather Bentley, how can I help you?" a woman on the other end mumbled sleepily.

_Doctor?_ Maggie mouthed to herself. "Hi, this is the Hollywood Hills Medical Center. I'm an RN here, my name is Maggie Dean. Might I ask what your relationship is to Jadelynn West?"

"Med… medical center… what? What happened? Is Jade okay?" Heather forced herself to wake up, despite her exhausted body's protests. Her mind was moving at a million miles an hour and her body was barely doing a snail's pace.

"Doctor, I can't disclose any information unless I know what your relationship is to Jadelynn,"

Heather replied, "I'm her psychiatrist. What happened to Jade?"

All sorts of theories and ideas shot through Heather's mind. Had Jade hurt herself again? She didn't have a reason but that was never a problem before. The tiniest things could set off the desire. Had her dad finally gone too far? A scary thought, but not unlikely. What if Beck had done something? That _was_ unlikely but not completely impossible. He did drink sometimes, even though Jade hated that he did.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this but she was in a very bad car accident earlier this morning. She's going into pre-op soon."

Heather got up and began fumbling around for clothes. "Okay, okay, okay. I can be there in half an hour."

"And her parents?"

"What do you mean?"

"Shouldn't they be informed?"

Heather gave a short, bitter laugh. "Yeah, I'll get right on that. Don't worry,"

_**VicTORIous*VicTORIous*VicTORIous*VicTORIous*VicTORIous*VicTORIous**_

"Are you sure you're okay to be by yourself?" David Vega asked for the umpteenth time as he pulled into the hospital parking lot.

"Dad, I'll be okay. I have my phone if you or mom needs anything,"

"I'm not worried about something happening to you. I'm worried about how you're going to hold up with no sleep and being stressed and worried over your friend,"

"I'm fine. I'll be fine," Tori repeated.

"Okay," he agreed rather hesitantly then gave her a quick peck on the forehead before allowing her out of the cruiser. "Text your mother hourly, I'll see you later," he said.

Tori waved good-bye as he drove off. She stood at the curb for a minute before taking in a deep breath and turning and walking into the hospital. It was practically deserted this time of day. Shifts weren't due to rotate for another hour and anyone needing medical treatment was already getting it and visitor hours hadn't begun. Tori slowly found her way over to a nurse station where two nurses, one male and one female, were playing paper football.

"Uh, hi," Tori began.

"How can we help you sweetheart?" the man asked, turning his attention to her.

"I'm here to see Jade West?" it came out as more of a question than a statement.

"Oh God, not another one," the female groaned. Tori crinkled her eyebrows.

"Um…" Tori looked around, not really sure how to respond.

"She's in surgery right now." The man was clicking around on his computer, pulling up Jade's information. "But if you want to wait for her to get out, and see her once visiting hours start, go to floor three. There'll be a nurse station and they'll give you more information,"

"Oh, okay. Thanks," Tori replied and walked to the elevators.

She soon found herself on the third floor, sitting in a chair overlooking the Hollywood hills. The nurse on duty hadn't been able to tell her much, except that Jade should be out of surgery in the next hour or two. So Tori sat and waited. For a while she wondered if she should call Cat or Beck or someone but then decided against it when she realized it was only six am and the only thing they would be able to do was worry and wait and potentially have an anxiety attack. She would call them once Jade was awake, or at least out of surgery. Tori sighed. She hated this waiting, this not knowing.

After she'd been there for almost forty-five minutes, a woman dressed in charcoal dress pants, a lavender blouse, and mismatched pumps (one navy, one black) rounded the corner into the waiting room and plopped down in a chair (that had a blazer to match her slacks) a couple away from Tori. She rubbed her temples and then stared at her phone. "One day I will get him…" she mumbled.

Tori felt a pang in her heart for this woman. Obviously she was distressed and going through a traumatic event of her own. Tori could definitely relate. She checked the time on her pear phone and decided to go ask the nurse (shifts had rotated ten minutes ago) for an update.

"Hi, is there any update on Jade West's surgery? I was told she'd be coming out soon," Tori told the new nurse, who looked much nicer than the other one had been.

"Let me see…" she pulled up the patient information sheets on her computer. "She's in recovery, everything seems to have gone well," she gave a soft smile.

"Thank you so much," Tori replied sunnily and returned to her seat.

It took her tired brain almost the entire walk back to her chair to realize that the woman from earlier had changed seats and was now sitting in the chair right next to where Tori had been. A part of Tori's brain said _oh who cares _and Tori decided to let it go without saying anything. She sank back down and unlocked her phone to text her mom the update.

"So I take it you must be Tori?" the woman finally said. She'd overheard Tori asking about Jade and put the pieces together.

Tori jumped. "What? I mean yeah, but, but… how do you know my name?"

"I'm Doctor Heather Bentley," she extended her hand with a smile.

Tori shook her hand, but still was clearly confused. The name didn't ring a bell.

"Jade's psychiatrist," she clarified.

Recognition sparked in Tori's eyes. "Oh! Yeah, Jade mentioned you. Not by name obviously but she did say she had a therapist."

"Really? She must trust you then, if she told you she was going to therapy."

"I guess. I don't even know half the time with her."

"Yes, she is a bit of an enigma,"

"A what? You know what, I don't care. No offense,"

"None taken. I can tell you're pretty tired,"

"Yeah, Jade and I were out late last night talking,"

Heather made a noncommittal sound and Tori continued.

"I just can't believe this happened. Like we were _just_ talking hours ago. It's insane,"

"I don't mean to be offending in any way, and I don't know if you consider this question to be too personal, and if you think that it is you don't have to answer by any means… but why are you here? How did you find out?"

"Umm…my dad's with LAPD and he got called in to work the case this morning. He woke me up and brought me here when he found out who was… who was hurt," Tori didn't want to say the word "victim".

"Got it,"

"So how'd you find out?"

"The RN on duty said I was the last one Jade had called so she called me,"

"Oh. What about her parents?"

Heather immediately knew that Jade hadn't told Tori anything about her parents. The lie (which was more like the truth stretched really thin) came easily and readily to the psychiatrist's lips.

"Her parents are out of town on vacation in Hawaii for the week,"

"Oh my gosh. Jade's really lucky to have you then. I don't know what I'd do if I woke up in the hospital and my parents weren't around," Tori said.

Heather smiled tightly.

She was saved from having to try and discretely change the direction of the conversation by the nurse at the station calling to them.

"Excuse me? Doctor Bentley? Tori? Miss West is on her way to her room. It's just down the hall, 324,"

The two jumped up, gave their thanks and rushed down the hall in time to see Jade being wheeled into her room and transferred from the gurney onto the bed. She was conscious but didn't seem very alert. Her eyes wandered over to the doorway and saw Heather. Her eyes flickered in recognition and the tiniest of smiles appeared. Tori hung back as Heather walked over and carefully gave Jade a big hug.

"You've looked better, kiddo," Heather smiled.

"Felt better too," Jade croaked. Heather gave a short laugh.

"Yeah, I'd say so,"

"Well don't just stand there," Jade managed, "Come here,"

"What? Who, me?" Tori fumbled her words a bit. Jade's appearance was startling.

She was paler than usual, with a huge purple bruise emanating from her nose, which was braced. Tori couldn't see much else because Jade was under a couple of blankets which made her seem even tinier and even more frail than she clearly was. Strong, tough, mean, Jade looked absolutely helpless, and it threw Tori for a loop.

"Yes, you, silly," Jade smiled slightly.

Tori cautiously walked over to the side of Jade's bed and smiled at her. "I'm really glad you're okay. Well, not okay because obviously you're really hurt, but okay like you're not dead… that kind of okay… um… sorry. I'm sorry I shouldn't have… that all came out wrong," she blushed.

"It's okay, Tori, I know what you meant. I'm glad I'm okay too," Jade laughed softly at Tori's babbling. Heather had stepped towards the door with the nurse and doctor and was talking to them.

"Yes, I am aware," Heather spoke in a clipped tone. "I have already spoken to her parents,"

"Then-"

"Let's take this conversation out into the hall," Heather ushered the doctor and nurse into the hall and shut the door.

"What was that about?" Tori wondered.

"No idea," Jade replied, even though she did.

Heather must've called her parents while she was in surgery. Her mom was in NYC on business (which could be true. Or she could be screwing around with some guy) and wouldn't be coming home anytime soon. Her father was in Vegas on an 'earned' vacation with a friend and they were probably getting as drunk as they could and getting with as many girls as they could. Neither would be of any help. And even if they were home, Jade didn't know if they'd care. Of course, her dad might care, but in the wrong way. All he would see is the huge hospital bill she was no doubt racking up, and the damage to her car. He'd tell her that the injuries she had were deserved, for being so arrogant and stupid. He might even kill her.

"Oh well, I'm sure it's just doctor stuff," Tori said obliviously.

"Yeah probably," Jade agreed. Then she changed subjects, "Hey, have you called Cat or…anyone?" she'd been about to say Beck, but forced herself not to. She really would like him here, because he was such a strong and calming presence but no way would she ever say that out loud.

"Uh, no. It's really early. I didn't want to call anyone until I had something to tell them. Like that you're awake and okay. ish." Tori replied. "I didn't want to be all, 'Oh hi, Cat. It's Tori. By the way, Jade is in emergency surgery for a big awful car crash she was in… no I don't have anything else to tell you…just wanted you to worry with me…okay bye,' you know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I understand. But can you call Cat now that I'm awake? I really want to see her,"

"Sure," Tori pulled out her phone and dialed the red-head's number.

After not even one full dial tone, Cat picked up. She sounded frantic.

"Tori! Tori! Oh my God I'm so glad you called! Jade's not answering!"

"It's fine, Cat. She's fine. Well, sort of. She's in the hospital. I'm with her," Tori said

"WHAT!? Oh my God! That's terrible!" Cat cried.

"No, Cat. She's fine, she just needs to do some healing up and she'll be good as new," Tori tried to soothe her.

"Tori! TORI!"

"Cat! It's okay, everything will be fine. Why don't you call Andre, I'm sure he'll be more than happy to give you a ride to the hospital,"

"No, Tori! It's so horrible! Because-"

"It's really not that bad Cat. You can talk to Jade right now if you want,"

"No! You're not listening to me!" Cat screeched.

"What?! What?!" Tori yelled back, exasperated.

"This is so horrible!"

"Cat! Would you just get on with it already?"

"There was… no Andre, it's Tori. Jade's in the hospital! Can you believe that!?"

"Cat? Cat!" Tori called.

"Tori?" Andre was suddenly on the other end.

"Hi Andre," Tori greeted, "What are you doing at Cat's so early?"

"Something bad has happened,"

"Well… how bad?" Tori turned away from Jade, whose interest had peaked considerably.

"Beck's gone,"

"What do you mean gone?"

"He's missing. No one has heard from him or seen him since school yesterday,"

"What?" Tori pitched her voice to a whisper, "Have you called the cops?"

"Yeah, they say they can't do anything. He has to be missing for over 48 hours before they consider him missing,"

"What? That's crazy!"

"I know. Look, we're at his RV now. The policeman I talked to said that if there's any evidence that he was kidnapped then they'll make a case and consider him missing. That's what me and Cat are looking for,"

_Andre! Andre!_

"What is it Cat?"

_Look! Oh my God! Look!_

"What is so… holy chizz." Andre said.

"What? What is it?" Tori badgered.

"His car… it's hidden behind his RV,"

"Well that's good right?"

"Not really. The entire front is crushed in. It looks like he ran into a concrete wall. He must've been in some kind of an accident,"

Tori gasped and swiveled around to look at Jade, who was very concerned.

"Like he hit a moving car, really fast?" Tori asked shakily.

"Yeah, it looks exactly like that, now that you mention it. Hey wait, Tori, why did you say Jade was in the hospital again?"

Tori screamed and dropped the phone.

**A/N: Duhn duhn duhn! **

**So so sorry for the ridiculously long wait on the update. I'll try and post the next chapter soon.  
>What do you guys think about the whole Beckcrashed car thing? Do you think he's really missing or do you think he was the one who hit Jade? If so, do you think it was on accident or on purpose? But either way, where is he!? Hmm. There are many questions that need to be answered. **

**Please review! Pretty pretty please? With red velvet cupcakes on top?**

**Love you all! **


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